But now we’re kind of annoyed. Did she not feel she could wear this to the Oscars? Has it all gotten so conformist and samey-samey on the Oscars red carpet that everyone feels they have to default to a big poofy gown lest they be ostracized? This would have been an amazing statement to make, showing up at the Oscars as a nominee, wearing something as bold as this.

Did she think this was too “evening” for the Oscars? This makes us wonder if some of the Oscars attendees think of it as a daytime event. Technically, it is a daytime event but most of the rest of the world considers it an evening event and besides, it’s an event that starts in daylight, but every man is expected to wear a tux and the ladies are all strongly encouraged to wear gowns, so we fail to see a day/night distinction. We have a feeling a lot of critics would claim this was too night-time or too showy for the Oscars proper, but we disagree.

Exactly. Enough said! (Although I also am dying to say I love her rings and the gold one of the end of the stack. So chic!)

Meg0GayGuys6

I just re-scrolled through and thought the exact same thing about the rings. And I think the bottom one is rose gold. Maybe yellow, white (or platinum), and rose. So pretty!

tessasouthworth

You took the word right out of my mouth. Seriously! Had she opted for this gown at the Main Event, I think she would have blown Naomi Watts and all the rest right out of the water!

3boysful

I want this dress . . . and somewhere to wear it.

YolandaHawkins

You said it best. WOW!

eowyn_of_rohan

This may the best thing I’ve ever seen her wear.

Vlasta Bubinka

Indeed. 23 Skidoo!

Glammie

Yeah, Amy doesn’t have the best sense of style. The big poufy gowns look quasi-bridal or debutante. This dress is so much more sophisticated–wish Amy had had the nerve or sense to wear it. It would have been all over the place.

poggi

I know. I have never seen her look this regal and comfortable. This really suits her.

EveEve

Yes! After that fluffy gray haystack she wore to the ceremony, this one rates her the “Most Improved” by a mile.

PeggyOC

Total agreement. She should have worn this to the ceremony, instead of that grey “slaughtered muppet” thing she wore. This is an amazing dress and she looks great in it. And more, it makes her stand out.

Agree… she looks stunning! It would have been perfect instead of the puffy dress!

Mary229

This is gorgeous. But I kind of love that she put on two totally different personas throughout the night. She went to the Oscars in a Princess dress and then showed up here as a totally different actress. It might sound dumb but it reminds me that she’s versatile and always capable of pulling another “character” out of her bag. But then again, as with Adele yesterday, I’m an apologist for the people with talent. On the talent scale, Amy always wins so I always forgive. But this is wow. No doubt.

Perhaps it didn’t “sit” as well as the other gown? The Oscars themselves, after all, are a four-plus-hour sitathon.

shawnhunter

but she literally wore the poofiest dress to ever poof to the actual Oscars, there’s no way this dress was more difficult to sit in

Deb_Lynn

She maybe thought she needed extra pouf to cushion her bum for the hours of sitting… 😛

Kimbolina

That makes sense. This dress looks like it would be difficult to sit in. I’d be afraid of all the beading getting snagged on the upholstered theater seats.

UsedtobeEP

Agree. Plus, all that beading weighs a TON. She might have collapsed under it. That said, I really don’t get the whole “change from an evening gown into an evening gown” thing anyway. I realize that hey, two fancy dresses, but if you aren’t opting for a more casual, cocktailesque party dress for the parties, then why bother? Just seems excessive, even for the most excessive night of the year.

But yeah, I would wear two beautiful dresses in one night.

Anne StJean

Lesson learned: looking like a Barbie doll does not require you to dress like one.

If she’s not careful, she’s going to make me think of her as a glamorous movie star.

Meg0GayGuys6

Yesterday I saw a bunch of pictures from this party and thought the majority of them looked FAB! Wayyyy better here than at the Oscars!

teensmom99

It’s just perfect.

nancylee61

The Oscars is the bring-it event of the year for these people, so I don’t understand, either, why she would save this for some after-party, unless she really thought the other dress was the bring-it dress! Who knows what these people think? Heidi thought she looked spectacular, and Anne Hathaway thought her gowns were Oscar worthy, so who knows? I give up.

tallgirl1204

She would have looked very nice with a statuette too, if that had come to her. (Now I am failing to remember if she was nominated.) This is quite lovely.

Is fringe becoming a “thing” now? I’m remembering the last PR and all the fringe…

Mary229

Yes. She was nominated for her role as the wife of the cult leader in “The Master.” (Which she was SCARY AS HELL in btw. And I mean that in a good way.) This was her 4th Oscar nomination in 7 years. I know it because it’s part of why I’m on the Amy bandwagon these days. I just think that’s totally awesome. I thought Anne was great in Les Mis but personally Amy was my pick to win.

f_yeah_marie

Her eyes really stand out in that last photo. I agree, she should have worn this instead!

Mary229

I’m in the minority in that I really loved her Oscar Princess gown. Yes, the color was not the best but I thought she looked soft and stunning and I thought she pulled it off. She’s been nominated for 4 Oscars in 7 years. I kind of felt like she could do whatever she wanted. That said, I think this fringe dress is STUNNING. It really emphasizes her gorgeous face and slim (yet never too slim which I love) figure. She didn’t win the Oscar but she’s got 4 Oscar noms in 7 years and she looks like THIS. So who’s laughing now?

CassandraMortmain

She looks stunning. This is one of the best dresses of the evening, before or after the Oscars.

She used to be on my irrational dislike list (hate is much too strong a word – she just annoyed me for some reason) but I’ve come around. She’s damned talented and I really hope she takes home an Oscar someday soon. Four nominations in seven years is impressive as hell. But there’s no guarantee of a win, still. Glenn Close has been nominated six times and still hasn’t won. And the amazing cinematographer Roger Deakins has been nominated twelve times and never won.

But very well done, Amy.

Mary229

I fell in love with her years ago in when she got her first nod for “Junebug”. She broke my heart in that movie. I also admit full stop that I thought she was brilliant in “Enchanted.” Then I fell in love with her again when she played the trashy bartender in “The Fighter.” Now, I can’t wait to finally see her attached to a big franchise this summer as Lois Lane. Yeah, I think she deserves an Oscar. But it’s almost like a non issue. The nominations alone are awesome.

MissAmynae

She won me over for good in “The Fighter.” She’s amazingly good in “Doubt” as well. I need to see “enchanted” like crazy.

Sobaika

I really wish she would up her fashion game, but she is one of the most consistently great actresses and I wish she was acknowledged more for it.

This includes her role as Tara’s cousin on Buddy and Wild Things 2, naturally.

Mary229

I think she is acknowledged for it. It’s just in different ways. She has alot of directors wanting to work with her. And she’s playing Lois Lane in the new Superman franchise. If that movie succeds that’s a potential billion dollar franchise on top of all her Oscar nods. Alot of women in Hollywood fought for that franchise bc in terms of superhero properties…it’s one of the most iconic ones there is following in Margot kidder’s steps…and she fought for it and got it. I think people know she’s great. She’s just more quiet about it than others.

BayTampaBay

She and the dress are F*&king gorgeous.

Why do these people where two dresses to this Oscar “shindig”? If “they” only wore one dress then this would have been the dress.

When I was in high school, we all bought “after prom” outfits to wear to the all night parties after the prom, however, these outfits were all cutting edge casual and “cool as hell” or so we thought. Again I ask, Why would you wear two formal dresses on the same night?

Tarhole

Seriously. In high school and college, my after-party clothes were jeans and comfy shoes, not another binding dress and heels. Granted, no professional photographers were present.

Love the dress but her hair is too severe. Would have loved to see her take it down for the after-party.

up with pod people

SO much better. Anne and JenLaw too. Jeez!

charlotte

Did she accidentally put on the wrong dress and then go straight to the red carpet without noticing? That’s the only explanation for choosing the Swiffer dress over this one that I can come up with.
Now I have this fantasy of her wearing her Oscars dress and sashaying through her house in it like a Disney princess specialized in dusting.

decormaven

Girl, this dress was FTW. Too bad you didn’t wear it to the Big Show!

lovelyivy

All time best for her without question! Sophisticated, but totally her age for once- she doesn’t look at all matronly, and she gave the mermaid hair a rest.

And yes, I wish she could have led a mini-revolution on the carpet. The oscars are now my least favorite Red Carpet- too cold, too perfect, too boring.

This is gorgeous, but I can’t imagine in what world the dress she did wear would be considered a day dress. And all these shimmery column dresses are beginning to blend together as well. I loved her Oscar dress.

Eva_baby

Adding to the chorus as to why she didn’t wear this to the ceremony. So much prettier. I hated her dress she wore. Looked like one of those creepy porcelain-dolls with the wide crocheted skirts that people use as toilet paper covers.

The dress is amazing but she looks like she just ate a bunch of sour grapes….

Mary229

I don’t see that at all. There is a really cute picture circulating the web of her being the first person to congratulate Anne when she got her award. I think it’s more that people have this image of Amy as always being all smiles and sometimes she’s more fierce than she gets credit for.

BrooklynBomber

I don’t see it. It’s not easy to stand and pose and smile for picture after picture after picture; the facial muscles need a break. And she might not have felt celebratory; after all, she’d just not won the Oscar.

Mary229

I think there is an inner diva inside of Amy Adams and I kind of like it when she stands there like, “Ok bitches” as opposed to Princess image so many people have branded her with.

BrooklynBomber

Well, that dress she wore to the ceremony didn’t help diminish that perception of her!

Mary229

No. But I think that was also a case of giving the public what they want. While many people HERE hated the princess dress, it was a huge crowd pleaser in most of the more mainstream mags who just loved seeing her like that. I also saw people loving it on Twitter. I think she knows that some people love seeing her in that image and she plays to it when the opportunity arises. But I love that she chose something more direce here!

BrooklynBomber

Makes sense. I didn’t see how it was talked about elsewhere.

Mary229

I only saw because I have a tumblr and there are alot of young women who reside on tumblr. Sometimes the things that we might not like are not the things that they like. Amy’s Princess dress was on thousands of “best dressed” lists for alot of young women. Pictures of her reblogged thousands of times in the dress. I think Amy knew what she was doing even if alot of people hated it here.

Or did she simply want to wear a big dress with a swishy skirt? She looks amazing here, but I’d understand that desire for the acres of skirt, once in a while.

Janet B

So very pretty. Amy should have worn this to the Oscar ceremony.
I think the simple silhouette works so very well for her. She looked lovely in Elie Saab earlier this month and that had a similar simplicity.

filmcricket

Just fab. One of the best things she’s ever worn.

Pants_are_a_must

No no no she should’ve totally worn this to the Oscars. This is a goddamn personal best, and she would’ve outworn all the other fellow nominees. Dammit, Amy Adams. You never get it right.

B_C_J

She looks wonderful. I prefer this gown over the gown she wore at the ceremony. Here she looks elegant and yet sexy in an understated manner. Those bigger dresses tend to swallow up the wearer. Here you see HER in all of her luminous, platinum-poured beauty.

My first thought scrolling down was: She should have worn THIS to the ceremony! I couldn’t agree more. As for any critic thinking this was “too night-time or too showy,” I have two comments: 1. What is a big, poufy gown if NOT night-time or showy? and 2. If you can’t bring night-time and showy to the Oscars, then when CAN you? With you all the way, TLo.

e jerry powell

She’s not carrying a clutch. I’m disappointed.

On the other hand, I prefer this garment with up hair, so I’ll excuse her.

Sara__B

Love this gown. (Did NOT love the Oscar’s gown.) The hair is disappointing, though. Not up to the standard set by the gown.

Frank_821

motherfucker! why didn’t she wear this on the red carpet. This dress is in a whole other plane of fashion and fierceness than that drab feather duster she wore

BrooklynBomber

motherfucker!

Hahahaha! That says it all!

MilaXX

I prefer this dress to that dust bunny she wore to the Oscars. My only quibble here is the grandma Moses hair.

Judy_J

THIS is the dress she should have worn to the Oscars! Why she thought that sad dust ruffle dress was the way to go is beyond me.

jilly_d

Boo-yah! This with a red lip would have been A+ on the RC.

Cathy S

I was thinking that; why wouldn’t she wear something this awesome to the Oscars. It’s just fabulous. She looks amazing.

Gorgeous! I wish she’d worn this to the awards. I wish she wore this every day, actually, but that might get a little uncomfortable.

alyce1213

I’m glad she redeemed herself, as did Oscar de la Renta. This is so much better than the Swifter gown.

Little_Olive

I love how she looks here and I’n not sure it would have been right, but I’d love her to let her hair down. It would have made even more os a statement in the “I’m also fun” department after the SERIOUS dress she wore to the Oscars.

formerlyAnon

And you fellas would be right, as you usually are. This dress is 10,000 times better than what she wore to the awards ceremony.

Of course, there is the remote possibility she has an after party agenda and was saving the best dress to help further that agenda, whatever it might be. But she’s an actress – national t.v. coverage – what agenda could trump that one? (I am assuming that it is a dreadful peasantly faux pas to wear the same dress to the Awards and the after parties.)

Jecca2244

it is only a day time event in LA where everything is a day time event because they are three hours behind! I always have this convo with my LA born fiance…football games at 10am! SuperBowl at 3! World Series at 5!

but I digress. She looks beautiful. and i feel like the VF party red carpet had a lot of better dresses than the Oscars carpet.

She probably got jealous when she saw how gorgeous Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, Stacey Keibler, etc etc all looked in their shimmering art deco gowns and pulled hers out of the bag. That grey shredded number she wore was atrocious.

Why, oh why, didn’t she wear this to the awards, rather than that dress which resembled a swiffer pad on top and the dust bunnies it attracted on the bottom? This is GORGEOUS and it makes her look incredible. Her minions should look at the two sets of photos and make themselves wear hair shirts for a month at least.

I thought Anne would have looked FAB U LOUS in that Dior Marion Cotillard is wearing at the César Awards if she didn’t want to wear her Valentino. But I guess with both Jen L. and Marion Dioring it up at every awards show it wasn’t really an option.

Anything would have been better than her pink Prada apron or that gross Saint Laurent column.

Out of the varied metallic/art deco/geometric dresses that I loved this year, this might be my favorite. I would lose 35 pounds and exercise for eight hours a day if given this gown. Wow. So, yeah, AMY. I’m awaiting your motivating phone call. Stunning, stunning dress!

This is way better than the other dress. I like the dresses the ladies wore to the parties much more than the ones they wore to the ceremony, plus they look a lot less stressed.

anotherkate

This is amazing! Forget “too nighttime” for the Oscars–I would wear this to breakfast if I thought I could look like that in it! I’d never take it off!

Alyssa

She totally should have worn this to the Oscars…what an amazing dress!

VioletFem

Very beautiful. It would never occur to me to critique this look for being “too night-time” since the Oscars since this is the biggest event in the movie industry.

Jessica Goldstein

I like this—on her and in the abstract—so much better than the Oscar dress she DID wear. Mystifying, isn’t it?

MaryAtRealityTea

She DEFINITELY should have worn this instead. This is the best I’ve seen her dressed in a long time. SO flattering and chic. If I ever go to the Oscars, I promise T.Lo I will not wear a big pouffy gown.

CeeQ

Oh yeah she should definitely have picked this for the main event, it’s gorgeous!

leave_Blake_alone

I agree with you guys. She should have worn this to the main event and she would have been on (or even topped) many a best-dressed list. In fact, I think this and Naomi Watts’s gorgeous afterparty dresses are my two favorites from the whole evening. (Kerry Washington still gets a nod too)

tereliz

As soon as I saw these pics, I thought the same thing! I don’t think the slinky dress is less Oscar appropriate. In fact, I wish more ladystars would default to styles that reference sleek, sultry old-school Hollywood glamor instead of poofy princesses and mermaids. It’s beautiful and grown up without being overtly sexy. Or too mature, which is the direction I fear A.A. skews a little too often, when really she’s the perfect age to wear a dress like this.

I actually feel the same way about Jennifer Lawrence. She looked so gorgeous after the Oscars and so awkward during–the girl pulled up her dress on her way to the face-plant up the stairs.

Annabelle Archer

Stunning. Absolutely should have been her Oscar dress. For shame, Amy, for shame.

alice20c

She looks amazing.

Everything, including the Oscars, has gotten more conformist. More than the mid 80s even, and I never thought that PMRC-addled, pleated-Dockers preppy hellscape would be outdone. Yet here we are, a time when starlet and nobody alike can find themselves publicly humiliated, swamped in viral judgement over anything, no matter how petty.

Buffy

agreed this is soooooo much better than that sad thing she wore to the ceremony

Stubenville

Wow – she look great.

SapphoPoet

She should have worn this to the Oscars. Fabulous.

mhleta

This is wayyyy better than that grey bit of laundry she had on earlier. So elegant and effortless.

Zippypie

She certainly was foolish wearing that big ole dirty dust mop over this sleek fabulous gown to the ceremony. Even her hair looks 50x better. I would say this is the best I’ve seen her look.

I want a reason to wear ONE fancy super fashion dress ONCE in my life, and these people get to wear two in one night?! Life is so unfair! 🙂

libraangel

Better, Amy, better. Now -relax, God darn ya!

barbarienne

There were enough spectacular metallic dresses at the ceremony proper to render any complaints about that utterly stupid. Objections should be addressed to Halle, Nicole, Ms. Z-J, and Stacey, any of whom will cut a bitch without half trying.

Lisa M. (ReVoir) Kramp

Was there an ‘Oscar’ dress code…”Wear bland things for TV and put on the Goddess Gear for the After Parties”?

jw_ny

Gorgeous! That’s a great dress! This is a werq for Amy. I can see why she picked it for the party, it’s fun and has a lot of movement…a good formal party dress. It would have been lovely and appropriate for the Oscars too, but I kind of like how she went in 2 different directions (although I really didn’t like the poofy ball gown she chose for the Oscars.)

l_c_ann

OK, so where did she store her big poofy dress? Did it get a room to itself until she was ready to take it home?

She looks freakin’ AMAZEBALLS in this! Should’ve been her gown for the show; she would’ve been in the top 5 best-dressed for sure.

Mazenderan

Dress is fabulous and she should have worn it for the main event. Her hair is too plain – as usual. Ditto with the makeup. A pop of colour on her lips would have looked great. Her eyes are a magnificent colour and should be made vivid – but this eye makeup just isn’t doing it. It’s also the second picture I’ve seen where it looks like her eye-makeup is causing irritation.

Oh j’agree, this would have been stunning at the awards. She looks fantastique..

poggi

I agree completely. This would have been main event appropriate, and she looks great in it. While Jennifer Lawrence’s metallic dress seemed more fitting for a party than for the Oscar’s this one could have worked. Do you have to wear two dresses now?

If it isn’t OK to be showy for the Oscars, then when is it OK to be showy? The Oscars is the ultimate time and place to be showy! Otherwise why bother?
I love this look. I love the slightly stronger make-up on her and the dress is fabulous!

prettybigkitty

This gives me the sads. She should have worn that to the main event. Best she has ever looked I think.

Adriana_Paula

If she had worn this she could have joined the gorgeous Deco chorus line with Halle, Stacy and Naomi.

Belvane

She and Jennifer Lawrence both looked far better at the after parties. You guys show so many stunning gowns all year long, it’s puzzling that so many stars choose safe and dull looks for the biggest dress-up night of the year.

I don’t *hate* this dress; it probably looks better in person and in motion. I dislike the blouson effect of the bodice fringe, the silver is shinier than dirty tulle but it still washes her out. The center part is too severe. She’s a gorgeous woman but I never think her hair or dress choices are flattering. Chastain has the same issues but she scored at the AAs.

guest2visits

This is gorgeous – but I can’t say I like it more than the etheral floaty one she wore earlier. I’m glad she lucked out on both.

The dress is gorgeous, but the color… I think it washes her out. If she’s going to wear that color, she needs a little more color in her face. Slightly bolder lipstick, perhaps. Something, anything that doesn’t ghost her out.

Why she didn’t wear it to the Oscars: you can’t sit in a gown like that. You break the fringe strings and sometimes the beads themselves. Even if you don’t break anything, it’s extremely uncomfortable to sit on hundreds of tiny glass beads. Take it from a belly dancer who wears similarly beaded and fringed garments.

Also, I love it.

laquevuela

Love huh. And that dress hangs better on her than on the runway model. The fringes may move better on the model (it’s hard to tell because Amy isn’t moving), but her curves really accentuate the beautiful chevron design. Werq it, girl.

LinXGUA

She knows she look gorgeous.

peachy

stunning….would have been a far better choice for the event than the grey dust ruffle she chose.

ThaliaMenninger

She should’ve worn this to the Oscars. SHOULDA SHOULDA SHOULDA.

YousmelllikeAnnaWintour

WERQ. She should have worn this to the awards.

librarygrrl64

I agree wholeheartedly. I like this and Lawrence’s after-party gowns much better than what they wore to the ceremony. Also, what pretty engagement and wedding rings she has!